Dallas mayoral candidates Eric Johnson and Scott Griggs continued to spar Tuesday during their second debate about which one can be a consensus builder at City Hall

And after the feisty back-and-forth debate, a majority of Griggs’ current colleagues on the City Council — including outgoing Mayor Mike Rawlings — weighed in on the issue, saying they support Johnson.

At a news conference on the roof of a Cedars hotel, Rawlings and seven current council members — Carolyn King Arnold, Tennell Atkins, Rickey Callahan, Jennifer Staubach Gates, Lee Kleinman, Adam McGough and Casey Thomas — said Johnson was the team player needed at City Hall.

“These leaders in Dallas want a uniter and want a leader around that horseshoe,” said Rawlings, who was seen meeting with Johnson at an Uptown coffee shop last weekend and handing the state representative printed documents.

Gates, who handily defeated former Mayor Laura Miller in a high-turnout North Dallas race this month, said she supports Johnson because “being a mayor is about being for something, not being against everything.”

Johnson had teased the announcement during the debate, which was hosted by The Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Regional Chamber and KXAS-TV (NBC5). He hammered Griggs regularly about the North Oak Cliff council member’s role as an opposition leader at City Hall over the past eight years. And Johnson ended his closing remarks with a call for undecided voters to ask their local representatives for advice on the mayoral race.

State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas (right) addresses Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs during their a televised debate Tuesday at El Centro College in downtown Dallas. The debate was sponsored by The Dallas Morning News, KXAS-TV (NBC5) and the Dallas Regional Chamber.

(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)

The audience listens to Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs (center, left) and State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas (right), debate during a televised one-hour debate sponsored by The Dallas Morning News, NBC5 and the Dallas Regional Chamber at El Centro College in downtown Dallas, Tuesday, May 14, 2019. Dallas Morning News political reporter Gromer Jeffers (left) and NBC 5 political reporter Julie Fine moderate the debate. The two candidates are in a runoff election to become Dallas Mayor. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)

Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs (center) and State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas (right), debate during a televised one-hour debate sponsored by The Dallas Morning News, NBC5 and the Dallas Regional Chamber at El Centro College in downtown Dallas, Tuesday, May 14, 2019. Dallas Morning News political reporter Gromer Jeffers (left) and NBC 5 political reporter Julie Fine moderate the debate. The two candidates are in a runoff election to become Dallas Mayor. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)

Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs (left) makes a point during his debate with State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas. The televised one-hour debate sponsored by The Dallas Morning News, NBC5 and the Dallas Regional Chamber was held at El Centro College in downtown Dallas, Tuesday, May 14, 2019. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)

The audience listens to Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs and State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, participate in a televised one-hour debate sponsored by The Dallas Morning News, NBC5 and the Dallas Regional Chamber at El Centro College in downtown Dallas, Tuesday, May 14, 2019. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)

Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs and State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, participate in a televised one-hour debate sponsored by The Dallas Morning News, NBC5 and the Dallas Regional Chamber at El Centro College in downtown Dallas, Tuesday, May 14, 2019. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)

Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs (left) makes a point during his debate with State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas. The televised one-hour debate sponsored by The Dallas Morning News, NBC5 and the Dallas Regional Chamber was held at El Centro College in downtown Dallas, Tuesday, May 14, 2019. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)

Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs (left) and State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, shake hands following their televised one-hour debate sponsored by The Dallas Morning News, NBC5 and the Dallas Regional Chamber at El Centro College in downtown Dallas, Tuesday, May 14, 2019. The two candidates are in a runoff election to become Dallas Mayor. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)

Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs (left) and State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, shake hands and visit following their televised one-hour debate sponsored by The Dallas Morning News, NBC5 and the Dallas Regional Chamber at El Centro College in downtown Dallas, Tuesday, May 14, 2019. The two candidates are in a runoff election to become Dallas Mayor. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)

Griggs, a four-term council member, has cut an anti-establishment image along with ally Philip Kingston and has made his political reputation opposing projects such as the proposed Trinity River toll road, which he helped to kill. He has also touted endorsements from several of his council colleagues.

Johnson said his record of working together across party lines — he is a Democrat in a Republican-led Legislature — during his nine-year stint in the Texas House shows that he can build consensus.

But as in the first debate, Griggs punched back, arguing that he had a record of “getting things done” at City Hall.

Asked how he planned on bringing people together, Griggs said that he already does so, presiding over some committees at City Hall during his tenure.

“I’ve worked with everyone on the City Council,” Griggs said. “I’ve got a thick skin and a big heart, which is what it takes to be a leader here in the city of Dallas.”

Griggs said that too often in Dallas, “people label common sense as divisiveness.”

“For years, I was called divisive because I didn’t want to build a toll road in the Trinity River,” he said. “They said I was divisive, but it’s actually just common sense.”

Johnson countered Griggs by saying, "how you disagree is important."

“What’s been going on that has disturbed many people is the tactics and methods that yourself and Councilman Kingston" engage in, Johnson said, adding that people find personal attacks and some methods of campaigning off-putting.

Griggs responded that he worked well with others, and that he didn’t have a record of disparaging those with whom he worked.

“You can just compare our records on social media” — pointing to a message Johnson posted while feuding with Dallas County Democratic Party leaders over their use of his one-time political rival, disgraced former state Rep. Terri Hodge, to train activists on how to operate a mail-in ballot campaign. Johnson's message included an image of himself in a suit standing in front of armed militants, and he labeled himself "El Blacko" — a spoof on former Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

The two threw such rhetorical jabs at each other throughout Tuesday’s debate.

For example, when asked about whether he would be beholden to big-money donors that have contributed to his campaign, Johnson said that people made donations to him because they were interested in his platform, not the other way around.

Griggs countered that Johnson had received money from former Dallas County Schools Board President Larry Duncan in the past, and hadn’t returned it after Duncan pleaded guilty to tax evasion in a sprawling corruption scheme that took down the busing-and-crossing-guard agency. Griggs — who previously received donations from other figures in that scandal — said when his campaign was informed of improper donations, he donated or returned them promptly.

In addition to contrasts in style, the two highlighted some key policy differences in the debate.

Griggs said he wouldn’t ask taxpayers to approve higher taxes for public safety if the Texas Legislature puts a cap on property valuation growth. Griggs, who argued against cutting the city’s tax rate further last year in favor of raising first-responder starting pay, said the needed money is already in Dallas’ budget, and he knows where to make cuts.

Johnson said he’d consider asking voters for more money if the Legislature passed a cap, but he hoped lawmakers will create an exception to allow local governments to spend more on public safety without a voter referendum.

Rawlings has opposed the tax cap, saying it would be “catastrophically harmful” to cities.

Griggs also disagreed with Rawlings’ embrace of regionalism, saying that the mayor needed to put “Dallas first.”

“The region is not going to succeed unless we have a strong core,” Griggs said, using the struggles of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system as an example of the “damage regionalism has done to the city.”

Johnson disagreed, calling it “one of the big differences” between the two candidates.

“What the mayor of Dallas has to be able to do is to restore balance in these discussions,” Johnson said. “There are limits to regionalism, you are correct. ... But the answer is not to just rip us out of every regional agreement that we are part of, or to just completely disparage our regional neighbors.”

“We do need to restore more focus on the city... but how we message about that and how we talk about that is important.”

In his endorsement, Rawlings — often a target of Griggs and Kingston — said Griggs grandstands on issues. The mayor said he feared the council member doesn’t understand “the ethos of what makes Dallas work” and didn’t want to somehow “send a signal” to developers and investors that “they are going to have issues; that there’s going to be animosity.’

“He said we’ll grow with small ideas, small projects,” Rawlings said. “Now, small ideas and small projects are very important to create neighborhoods, and I’ve been a big fan. But every once in a while, dealing with poverty, we gotta think big. We have big issues, and we need somebody creative enough to do that.”

Griggs has campaigned against big ideas that he says are generated by the city’s elite, and has vowed to become “a new kind of mayor.”

The debate will be rebroadcast at 8 a.m. Sunday on NBC5. The runoff election is June 8.